Door latch operating mechanism for railway cars



Nov. 11, 1947. E. o. LUNDE DOOR LATCH OPERATING MECHANISM FOR RAILWAY CARS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed July 13, 1945 EL, INVENTOR.

y 77m azunde NOV. 11, 1947. Q LUNDE 2,430,517

DOOR LATCH OPERATING MECHANISM FOR RAILWAY CARS Filed July 15, 1945 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.

BYZ'IZ/M? '0. Lunae.

Patented Nov. 11, 1947 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE DOOR LATCH OPERATING MECHANISM FOR RAILWAY CARS Einar O. Lunde, Wyckofl", N. J., assignor to Magor Car Company, New York, N. Y., a corporation of Delaware Application July 13, 1945, Serial No. 604,877 3 Claims. (01. 105-308) 2 The instant invention relates to railway dump ing or sill I6 is secured to the under surface of cars and more particularly to means for actuthe bottom or floor said housing extending ating a latch mechanism normally holding the centrally of the bottom and along the longitudihinge doors of the car in closed condition. nal axis of the car R. As shown, the housing One of the primary objects of the invention 5 I6 has as its upper wall a portion of the bottom is the provision of a mechanism for automati- II, as its side walls spaced angle members I! cally releasing the latch means holding top and I8, and a plate l9 secured to the lowermost hinged doors on a railway car as when the car edges of the angle members I! and I8 constitutenters or leaves a designated discharge point ing the bottom Wall of the hollow housing [6. or station. 10 A plurality of bearing plates 20, 20a are secured A further object of the invention is the proto the inner faces of angle members M, Ma, said vision of mechanism for selectively releasing the bearing plates 20, 20a being arranged in spaced latch means associated with one or the other relationship along said angle members. Similar of opposed hinged doors on a railway car. bearing plates 2|, 2|a. are secured to the outer Yet another purpose is the construction of an wall of angle members I! and i8, each of said automatically actuated latch releasing mechabearing plates 2|, 2| a being in opposed relationnism for top hinged doors of railway cars which ship to a bearing plate 20, a in a manner to be is simple in construction, efficient in use and described more in detail hereinafter. which requires but few simple parts. Bearing plates 2|] and 20 each have jour- The above and other aims and objects will 20 nalled therein a plurality of spaced shafts 22, be apparent from the detailed description here- 22a. Similarly, bearing plate 2|, 2| a have jourinafter appearing when taken in conjunction nalled therein a pair of shafts 23, 23a. with the appended drawings forming a part A supporting frame 24 is fastened to the under hereof to which attention is now directed and surface of the bottom plate IQ of the housing I3. in which 25 The frame 24 embodies right hand and left hand Figure 1 is a plan View of the latch mecha- Wings 25, 25a having lower bearing seats 23, 26a. nism in position on the bottom of a railway car. Actuating arms 21, 21a are mounted for vertical Figure 2 is a sectional view taken on line 2--2 movement in the right hand and left hand Wings of Figure 1. 25, 25a and lower bearing seats 26, 26a, respec- Figure 3 is a fragmentary view of the fixed tively. Each actuating arm 21, 21a terminates cams for actuating the latch mechanism. in a lower fork portion 28, 28a rotatably sup- Figure 4 is a sectional view taken on line 4-4 porting a roller 29, 29a. The upper portion of of Figure 1. each of actuating arms 21, 21a is encircled by a Figure 5 is a fragmented sectional view corcoil spring 30, 30a tending to force the arm to responding to a portion of Figure 2 and disclosa, downward position. A link member 3|, 3|a is ing a preferred form of latch actuating pivotally secured as at 32, 32a to the upper end mechanism. of an arm 21, 27a. The upper end of each link Referring now to the drawings and particumember 3|, 3| a is pivotally secured as at 33, 33a larly to Figures 2 and 3 thereof, the reference to a further link 34, 34a rigidly attached at its character R designates a railway dump car for other end to rods 23, 23a. Spaced connecting holding cargo, freight or the like having spaced rods 35, 35a are each pivotally secured at one longitudinally extending upper angle members Ill, end to links 35b, 35c fastened to shafts 23, 23a

Ilia, a bottom or floor II, and a plurality of and pivotally secured at the other end to links spaced doors l2 constituting the side walls of 35d, 35a fastened to rods 22, 22a. The connectthe car R. As will be apparent from an inspecing rods 35, 35a for the door opposing the rollers tion of Figures 2 and 3, each of the doors I2 29, 29;; are secured at their inner ends to the is hingedly connected at its upper edge |3 to an pivotal connections between links 3|, 34 and 3| a, upper angle member II] or Illa, whereby the 34a. The rollers 29, 290, are adapted to ride on doors may swing outwardly as represented by inclined earns 36, 36a positioned at a discharge the dot and dash lines. point adjacent a station or the like. A plu- A second pair of spaced longitudinally exrality of spaced hooked latch members 31, 31a tending angle members or sills I4, I la are seare secured to the shafts 22, 22a for movement cured to the bottom or floor H of the car R as therewith, said latch members normally holding by welding or the like adjacent the outer edges the doors I 2 in vertical or locked position. Howl5, l5a of said floor or bottom. A hollow housever, upon movement of the shafts 35, 35a by no longer contact inclined calm surfaces 36, 36a" so that springs 30, 30a. move the rods 35', 35ato the full line position shown in Figures 3 and 4', and the latch members 31 now engage and hold the lower edges of the swingable doors l2 whereby the latter are locked against outward movement.

While the latch releasing mechanism dis-- closed in Figures 2 and 3 is satisfactory and-infact desirable in instances where it is desired to open opposed doors I2 simultaneously, there are.

however, instances in which it is desirable to selectively unlatch one of the other of the opposed doors. Such latter instances are where cars are unloaded in rotary dumpers; or wherein it is desirable that the release of the latches be retarded until a predetermined dumping angle has been reached. To provide for'independentor selective release of the door latches, a pneumatic or hydraulic cylinder 40 is positioned for'axial alinement with each of the laterally opposed actuating arms 21' (only one of which is illustratedin'Fig. 5) and each of such cylinders is provided with a piston 41 having an arm engaging head 42. Fluid may in a well known manner be selectively admitted to the cylinders 40 whereby the'do'ors may be selectively and independently" opened and may of course be opened simultaneously as with the form of Figures 2 and 3.

From the above it will be apparent that there has been" produced a latch operating mechanism for railway dump cars well adapted to perform its intended functions. While the invention has been described in detail, it will be apparent that numerous changes may be made in the'specific construction shown and it is' contemplated to "cover all such and to be limited in this respect only as'may be necessary by' the scopeof the claims hereto appended.

What I claim and" desire to secure'by'Letters Patent is:

1. Door latching mechanism for a railway car having opposite side and intermediate floor engaging sills and a side door pivotally supported at its upper end for swinging outwardly from the floor; comprising a shaft parallel with and rotatably supported by a side sill, a shaft parallel with and rotatably supported by the intermediate sill, door engaging latches rigidly connected with the first shaft, a connecting rod intermediate the shafts and having link connections therewith for unitary rotation of the shafts, and cam actuable means connected to the second shaft for imparting rotation thereto.

21 Door latching mechanism for a railway car having opposite side and intermediate floor engaging sills and opposite side doors pivotally supported attheir upper ends for outward swinging of theirlower ends, comprising a shaft rotatably supported by the intermediate sill at each side thereof, a plurality of shafts rotatably supported by each side sill with each such shaft disposed beneath a door, operative connections between the first-named and the last named shafts for unison rotation thereof, door engaging latches carried by the last named shafts and'camactuable means operatively connected with the first named shafts for imparting rotation' thereto.

3. The structure according to claim 2 wherein said cam actuable means comprises an arm supported by the intermediate sill for vertical movement adjacent each of said first named'shafts, a cam engaging roller carried by the lower end of each of said arms, spring means biasing the arms downwardly, and link connections between the upper ends of the arms and the first-named'shafts.

EINAR O. LUNDE.

REFERENGES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS 

